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The Rangers will play Slovan in Bratislava on Oct. 2, 2011 (11 a.m. in New York) as part of their European tour while Madison Square Garden undergoes renovations.

“HC Slovan Bratislava is proud to welcome one of the classiest NHL organizations to our arena at the beginning of the new season,” HC Slovan general manager Maros Krajci said in a statement. “Next season is an historic one in Bratislava, as we celebrate the 90th anniversary of playing hockey in our city.”

HC Slovan hosted the Lightning in 2008, losing, if I recall correctly, in a shootout.

There has been some talk on Rangers-related blogs that the Rangers' European pre-season games are too tightly bunched together, with 4 of them in 5 nights, and especially considering that they are all in different countries (Sept. 29th, Prague; Sept. 30th, Gothenburg, Sweden; Oct. 2nd, Bratislava vs. HC Slovan, and Oct. 3rd, Zug, Switzerland).

The concern is that there will be too much travel and too much game play for exhibiton games, and that the team will either be forced to (i) use players who it knows will not make the squad (but rather be demoted to the AHL, or to NCAA or Major Junior clubs, or released), or (ii) see players get worn out and possibly hurt right before the start of the NHL regular season.

Scenario (i) is undesirable because, given that these exhibition games are so close to the start of the NHL season, the team needs that time to gel with the players who will actually be on the squad for the season, and Scenario (ii) is undesirable for obvious reasons.

I don't know that there is any good solution, since the games cannot be rescheduled at this point.

As for goaltending, I'll bet Lundqvist starts against Frolunda and Zug.

Hello,
I have three tickets for this game NYR vs. Sparta Praha. because of private reason me and my family can't go to Prague and watch this game, so we would like to sold them on the same price or a bit lower. Are anybody interested to buy them?

Marc Staal, the Rangers' assistant captain and top defenseman, will not travel with the team to Europe or compete in any of the preseason games there, due to the lingering effects of a concussion he suffered last season when he was hit by his brother Eric during a Rangers-Hurricanes game. He may not be able to start the regular season on time, either. Bad news for the Rangers and infuriating considering his brother was the cause of the injury.

I watched an interview with Henrik Lundqvist, who called the exhibition game against brother Joel and Frolunda "special," and said it will be "very emotional" for him to return to Gotheborg with the Rangers and face his old team later this week.

The Rangers are actually playing 4 lines of NHL offense today. However, they are missing their top 3 defensemen, and are using only 2 regular defenseman (McDonagh & Eminger). Biron is in goal, & has apparently been stellar today.

Sparta outplayed the Rangers in the first period, but Biron made some great saves to keep it 0-0 through the 1st period.

Rangers defeat Sparta Prague 2-0, and from what I read, Marty Biron was by far the Rangers' best player. The NHL's head writer for NHL.com said that the Rangers did not play well at all today except for Biron.

Henrik Lundqvist was honored in a pre-game ceremony by his former club, receiving a key to the city. He was given a hero's welcome and, despite the fans cheering for Frolunda, was also cheered throughout the game.

Before the game, Lundqvist said the game would be emotional for him, and that he was excited, nervous and wanted to win.

His parents and new bride were in the crowd, and his twin brother Joel is Frolunda's captain.

Meanwhile, the Rangers shocked me by not playing anything close to their full strength roster like they did against Sparta. They sat their top 5 defensemen, and sat 7 of their top 9 forwards. This game was used to test the prospects still remaining in the Rangers training camp. Of those prospects, Ryan Bourque and Swede Carl Hagelin stood out as the best. The two best Rangers overall were Lundqvist (who was spectacular at times in making 32 saves, especially when the Rangers were down 5-on-3 against three straight times early in the second period, although he did give up one terrible goal) and Mats Zuccarello-Aasen, the former Elitserein MVP who had two assists.

Frolunda outshot the comparatively inexperienced Rangers roster, getting plenty of excellent scoring chances against the goaltender who led them to two Elitsereien championships in his five seasons with the club. The Ranger goals were scored by Kris Newbury, Michael Del Zotto, Erik Christensen & Mike Rupp. Only Rupp will likely spend the full season with the Rangers. Over half of the Ranger roster fielded today will likely play some or all of the upcoming season with the AHL Connecticut Whale.

I'll have to revise my roster predictions now - with only two preseason games remaining until the regular season begins, the Rangers will likely use a full roster against both Slovan Bratislava and EV Zug now.

Slovan led 1-0 at the end of the first period, outshooting the Rangers 12-6, and both outskating and (surprisingly) physically dominating them.

Slovan still controlled the first half of the second period before the Rangers found their game. The Rangers really controlled the final 30 minutes, physically dominating, outskating and quite frankly outplaying Slovan.

The Rangers scored three second period goals en route to the win.

Lundqvist was solid all game long. Goals came from Zuccarello (on a gift full two minute 5-on-3 the Rangers were somehow awarded), Boyle (right after the aforementioned power play expired), Anisimov (shorthanded) and McDonagh.

Slovan led 1-0 at the end of the first period, outshooting the Rangers 12-6, and both outskating and (surprisingly) physically dominating them.

Slovan still controlled the first half of the second period before the Rangers found their game. The Rangers really controlled the final 30 minutes, physically dominating, outskating and quite frankly outplaying Slovan.

The Rangers scored three second period goals en route to the win.

Lundqvist was solid all game long. Goals came from Zuccarello (on a gift full two minute 5-on-3 the Rangers were somehow awarded), Boyle (right after the aforementioned power play expired), Anisimov (shorthanded) and McDonagh.

The Rangers were really piss-poor during the 1st period. (I know all the traveling and the games in short periods of time, but still...). Slovan crumpled after the Rangers 5-3 where they scored two goals (I know 2nd one was already EQ, but it resulted from the PP). But I had the feeling that had Slovan used more than just the one chance in the 1st period the game could have went differently.

Maybe a bit off-topic, but one thing I noticed not only during this game, but also during the Slovak Extraliga games. It seems to me that when it comes to technical skills with the stick Slovak players in general (and not only the top tier ones) belong to the best in the world. Which however is also a loss since they pretty much all have the tendency to play with the puck way too much, which makes the game way slower. That combined with the fact that the biggest weakness and where we logg the most behind is skating makes the Slovak league even slower.

25th of June 2015 - Worst day in the history of modern hockey in Slovakia

Admittedly, I only saw video highlights of the Sparta game, but Slovan seems much stronger than Frolunda to me, and Frolunda is in first place in Elitserein. Sparta likewise seems stronger than Frolunda from what little I saw of them.

Frolunda, in essence, lost to the AHL Connecticut Whale with Lundqvist in goal (not that that's a bad thing - the Whale should be a powerful AHL club this season).

Slovan and Sparta played close games against the real Rangers. The Rangers are missing their top defenseman, and were missing their top 3 against Sparta and 2 of their top 3 against Slovan. Other than that, they saw the full Rangers team.

Slovan was, for a European team, surprisingly physical. On the whole, they were a well coached, well-prepared, talented team that was a pleasure to watch.

Admittedly, I only saw video highlights of the Sparta game, but Slovan seems much stronger than Frolunda to me, and Frolunda is in first place in Elitserein. Sparta likewise seems stronger than Frolunda from what little I saw of them.

Frolunda, in essence, lost to the AHL Connecticut Whale with Lundqvist in goal (not that that's a bad thing - the Whale should be a powerful AHL club this season).

Slovan and Sparta played close games against the real Rangers. The Rangers are missing their top defenseman, and were missing their top 3 against Sparta and 2 of their top 3 against Slovan. Other than that, they saw the full Rangers team.

Slovan was, for a European team, surprisingly physical. On the whole, they were a well coached, well-prepared, talented team that was a pleasure to watch.

For the physical part, I guess it might have to do with their coach Štefan Mikeš. He seemed to prefer a more NA kind of game while withe U20 NT and he had trained them with a tourney played in NA ice as the most important part of the season for a bunch of years.

25th of June 2015 - Worst day in the history of modern hockey in Slovakia

There's also no proof whatsoever that Zug and the Rangers, or the NLA and the NHL, have some sort of conspiracy to fix the match in the Rangers' favor.

With all due respect, the odds are that the Rangers would "look good" and beat Zug even if Zug treated the game like Game 7 of the NLA championship finals - they don't need Zug to throw the game for them. The idea that the Rangers would even want that is both insulting and laughable.

Can Zug beat the Rangers? They certainly are good enough to win the game. And they might in fact win it.

Then again, the Rangers are certainly good enough to beat Zug, and they might win the game - and they don't need Zug's help to do it.

7-4 Zug in the third.........I'll take that apology anytime you are ready, Onyxx. :)

They will win this game against the NY Rangers, and congratulations to them. Only the fourth European team in the post Cold War era to beat an NHL team, joining Tappara Tampere (SM-Liiga), ZSC Lions (NLA), & SKA St. Petersburg (KHL).

They are beating the crap out of the Rangers full roster today, so hats off to them (albeit with Martin Biron instead of Henrik Lundqvist in goal, and the backup today is non-pro Major Jr. draft pick Scott Stajcer).

I am at work and can't watch the game, but I suspect that the Ranger defense and goaltending are awful today.

Oh, and this makes the NLA 2-2 against the NHL all time - the best record of any country's top league against the NHL other than Russia.

While it's true the Rangers had an hectic schedule 4 games in 5 days, but still a big accomplishement for a Swiss team neverthless Marc....

The game doesn't look to be "fixed", but you have to confess against SC Bern, last period they pull out their goalie and on the ice, put an entire junior team in the last period 3 year ago, and HC Davos played an overspeed system against the Blackhawks. So those 2 games were basically "given" for the NHL teams to win....So yeah it was indeed fixed...but that game wasn't.

I knew Zug would not purposely lose. And trust me, the Rangers did not let them win.

True, the Rangers were tired - 4 games in 4 countries in 5 nights is a lot for any team, no matter how well conditioned they are. That is a lot of game play, a lot of travel, and very little rest.

However, I refuse to use that as an excuse. Zug won fair and square, and won big. They deserve the praise that comes with that.

By the same token, you can't honestly claim that Bern let the Rangers win when they played. Just as Bern used a few juniors, and used a junior goalie for the third period, the Rangers used about 1/4 to 1/3 AHL players that game, and used Steve Valiquette in goal; he was barely NHL caliber. Bottom line is that the Rangers routed Bern that night. Bern was still down a few goals when they used their top guys, and with Buhrer in goal, before the Rangers exploded in the third. Don't make excuses - the Rangers crushed them fair and square, just as Zug crushed the Rangers today.

Likewise, no excuses for the rout Davos suffered against Chicago.....both teams used their full rosters, and the Blackhawks shelled them. And finally, no excuses for the fact that ZSC beat Chicago fair and square, as both teams played their full rosters.

Give credit where it is due, Onyxx. The Rangers and Blackhawks earned their wins, just as Zug and ZSC did.

Finally, I doubt you think that Zug would take the Rangers in a best of seven series with NY using Lundqvist, or any Swiss team against an NHL team in a best of seven.

And you what? Who cares? The NLA has performed very well against the NHL, and deserves its praise. Just don't whine about the games the NHL teams routed them, that's all.

One error in the boxscore, Piotrek......the Rangers outshot Zug 45-28.

Yes, the Rangers were tired (even though they badly outshot Zug, they played like they were tired), yes, they used their backup goalie and left him in there even though he had a terrible night, yes it was only pre-season.............blah, blah, blah. No excuses - Zug won. They played a tired opponent and did what any good pro team should - they took advantage of their opponents' tiredness and jumped all over them, and did not let up.

I just wanted to say that Onyxx likewise shouldn't make excuses for the routs the Rangers & Blackhawks inflicted upon Bern & Davos.

You can see just how bad a night Biron had........awful. That's the worst I've ever seen him play in his entire career. Thankfully, this game seems to have been the one bad night on the season, as he has been absolutely dominant in his limited number of games played in the NHL this season so far.....excellent stats and clutch saves. He literally looks like a different player than the one who played this game. With a 45-28 shots advantage, the Rangers should have won this game, but instead got routed. Shows you how important goaltending is. What's odd is that a year or two ago, Zug played the 'Ontario Knights,' a collection of players who formerly (and a few who currently) play for the Ontario League's (Canadian Major Junior) London Knights......mostly comprised of AHL and low-end NHL players....and they crushed Zug, who also used Markkanen in net that game. You just never know what can happen in odd exhibition matchups, and that's why these games are fun.

Can anyone give me a synopsis of Damien Brunner's comments? Thanks in advance if you can!